Chapter 28

"What will become of me?"

The voice was soft and barely audible and it was being spoken to no one in particular. The speaker was the Princess Samira. She was sitting by herself against the ship's cabin onboard the Windrunner. We were at sea again, heading north once more on our trek towards Izmir and the harbour there. No one was really paying much attention to her. It was my enhanced hearing that picked up her whispered words and alerted me to her worries.

"I'll probably sell you and the other three girls as slaves," I told her coldly. I was standing several feet away from her, in the stern of the craft talking to Felicity and as a result my mood was less than amiable when I chose to speak to the young woman.

I'd been chatting to Felicity about what had happened to her during her captivity. Thankfully what she told me had kept me from wanting to turn the Windrunner about and head back to Minos so that I could do something worse to the merchants of that kingdom. From what she told me, the Minoans had ignored both her and Tagus once they'd been captured and taken aboard the White Dove. The Minoans had placed them in chained up for the entire trip and they had shoved in a storage compartment and then left alone. Even the merchant bastard who'd ordered the kidnapping ignored them for the entire trip. It had not been until they had reached the king's palace that anyone had thought to clean them up. She'd been made to bathe before being taken to be presented to the king, but that had been it. They'd made her wear her own clothing so that Felicity would look more exotic in appearance for the pleasure of the king. Amazingly the Minoans hadn't even frisked her when they'd taken her for weapons and she had still had her spare clip in her jacket pocket. Unfortunately, her back up piece had been left with her gear in the inn where we'd been staying. I had reassured her that it had probably been a good thing it had been, considering the fact that she'd have had to kill a lot of assholes to escape and even if she'd succeeded, I couldn't see her and Tagus sailing the White Dove back to Izmir on their own. She had laughed at that image when I suggested it, but she had frowned instantly when I'd turned and spoke to the princess.

The young woman looked at me in horror on hearing my words. I felt sorry for her almost immediately. The last couple of days must have been a rude awakening for her. She'd seen her father killed and her home set ablaze and she'd been kidnapped by people who hated her and what her kingdom stood for. Still I didn't show her or anyone else how I was really feeling. I kept my face stone cold and my eyes stern as I gazed down at her.

"But I'm a princess," she squeaked in response.

That caused those who understood Minoan to burst out in laugher. This included Dork who'd been leaning against a railing some feet away, watching the ships that were trailing behind us. The laughter stung the girl and she started to cry. Her tears didn't garner her any sympathy.

"A princess," Dork snorted with disgust. "Who cares what you were little girl. Your father was a king and he is now dead. He was also a bastard who enjoyed abusing the helpless and the weak. His death came too quickly for my taste. Still, that man there killed your father and as far as I'm concerned, he is now the king of Minos and if he wants to sell you as a slave, he can."

With that Dork walked over to his spot on the deck where he kept his stuff and grabbed the sack that he'd been carrying since we'd fled the palace. From the sack he pulled something circular and metallic looking. It was the king's crown. Holding it in his hands he walked over to me and presented it to me, deftly placing it on my head before I could voice a protest.

"There," he said turning to the weeping girl, "the new king of Minos. Obey him like you would the old one and be happy with whatever fate he sets for you. It could be worse."

All those in sight and hearing were surprised by Dork's actions. The big guy just nodded to me and then went back to the place where he'd been standing before. Silently I took the crown off my head and gazed at it. For a moment I wondered if this foretold my future and my role on Game World. The sobbing of the girl grew louder, dragging my mind back to the immediate. Silently I sat myself down beside her and then I signalled the three daughters of Alexander of Lufkin to come and join us. They too looked on the verge of tears.

"All right then," I said solemnly, once everyone was settled, "we need to speak of this matter and we need to do it now. I will be honest with you four and tell you that I had no intentions of taking prisoners when I had originally arrived on Minos. I wanted to rescue my friends and then leave. I grabbed the princess here when she was pointed out to me as a possible hostage to be used to get my people out of the palace. I really hadn't planned to take her further than Lufkin. Unfortunately I saw the state of things in the city and I knew she'd be dead or worse within half an hour after I had released her. As for you three, I had forgotten about you minutes after leaving your father's villa. Now I must deal with the four of you and decide your fates. If you were men, I'd drop you in the sea and make you swim to shore and then I would wash my hands of you. Regrettably I can't do that to you four. You are young, attractive women who neither know how to fight or have the strength or willingness to fight. Left to your own devices you'd be raped and murdered within minutes of me abandoning you. Still, I don't know what to do with you. If I sell you as slaves, which is something that I am opposed to, you'd be raped and abused within minutes of being bought and I don't want that to happen to you. You're as much of a victim here as the others on this ship and the other ships in this fleet. That means that I will have to keep you and take care of you, which is an impossible thing for me to do. The fact is that danger follows me everywhere and eventually you would end up dead. For now however, you should wipe away your tears away and accept that you're under my protection. From Izmir we will sail to the port of Oak Hall. There I have friends who might take you in. In the meantime keep out of people's way and forget what you were before this day. A new life lies before you now and like it or not you must accept it. There is no other choice."

I left Samira and the three other young women sitting where they were and went back to chat with Felicity again. The four of them just stared blankly off into the distance for a bit. It was as if they didn't know what to do next. Eventually they started to talk amongst each other.

"You did well there Charles," Felicity whispered into my ear. "I know how they feel and I think you did them a world of good by sitting and being honest with them. I know that I'm at a loss here most of the time. Everyone wants to dominate or kill someone else and there is very little effort being made to do something better. Hopefully that will change once you've succeeded in your mission."

"We'll see," I replied softly, looking down at the crown that I was holding in my hands.

"Maybe you should be king," Felicity muttered in a half teasing manner, "and not just of Minos."

"I don't want to be a king," I responded shaking my head, yet still looking at the crown. "All I want to do is to put an end to what the other world is doing here. When I've done that, then I'll find a place for you and your sister-wives and we can settle down and live in peace and raise our children."

"As long as you don't want to raise pigs," Felicity chuckled softly. "I had an uncle who raised pigs and those things stink. Personally, I'd rather live in a city. At least there I could hang up my shingle and I could work as a doctor while you stayed home and raised our kids."

I said nothing in reply, letting Felicity have her chuckle. By then my mind was on other things. I was actually wondering if being king would be bad thing considering the benefits. As king I could rally the people against the alternative Earth and their machinations. It might be an option in the future. Our raid on Minos had shown how weak these petty kingdoms were. Perhaps a strong leader could make a difference. I might just have to talk to Lord Barnabas on the topic later on. I'd have to see. For now I'd keep hold of the crown. After all, it was made of gold and gold even on Game World was worth something.

It took us seven more days to reach Izmir. During that time we had a few minor incidents that required my intervention. Most of our difficulties arose from too many people stuck on a boat for ten to twelve hours a day. Tempers flared from time to time and a strong word was needed to calm things down. Fresh food helped and my hunters and fishermen were kept busy whenever we dropped anchor. Bigger problems got resolved with the point of a sword or a spear. I had Tobias organize a guard that patrolled the beach every night while others slept. Most of the time they encountered very little in the way of trouble but once they did. It occurred on night on an obscure island half way back to Izmir. I learned when Tobias came and told me about it that a group of men had gotten into some drink of which they shouldn't have had at all. Once drunk they had decided that a group of women sleeping near their fire should entertain them in a manner that would please the men. Of course the women objected to this notion and they told the men to bugger off. Of course the men tried to insist and their bellicose behaviour drew attention to them. Tobias and the guard found them trying to force themselves upon the women. Tobias dealt with it quickly knowing that I took a dim view of such behaviour. The five men paid for their stupidity with their lives. Later Tobias showed me the dead men and immediately I recognized them from the incident on the beach a few days before with the three girls. They'd been spectators. Obviously some people never learn. I publicly congratulated Tobias and the guard for their diligence, well before we sailed again that day and I made certain that everyone saw the dead men before we left the island. I wanted no further incidents and thankfully there were none.

Izmir was just as I remembered it. The inner harbour was packed with ships from other city states that existed along the western coast of the Aegean and the quay was a bustle of activity with cargos being unloaded and traded and in some cases loaded again. I spotted the Swordfish tied up to docks and saw that it was undergoing some modifications. I nodded my head in approval. Eventually the same pilot that had boarded the Windrunner the last time we were here came out in a small boat and told us that we would have to anchor in the outer harbour until space became available at the docks. He noted who I was and the fact our ships were brimming with refugees. He also noted the presence of Tagus. That made him very nervous indeed. I wondered at that.

I went ashore with the pilot. Before leaving I told Tagus to be cautious in his dealings with the port. I had a suspicion that the pilot might have had something to do with Tagus' disappearance, if only indirectly. I might need to make a few inquiries. For now I kept my peace and tended to my own business. I wanted to speak to whoever was captaining the Swordfish and I needed to pay my respects to Lord Omar. It was the diplomatic thing to do.

The captain of the Swordfish was one of Elsa Mueller's men. I recognized him immediately, mostly because he was a tall black man and I'd seen very few of them on Game World so far. To my pleasure, he recognized me as well. Of course, being as big as I am in a world of men a foot shorter, it shouldn't have surprised me. The man came and greeted me as I came aboard his ship.

"Greetings," the man said warmly in a southern drawl, clasping my hand in a traditional outworlder handshake, "and welcome aboard."

The man was Glenn Dupree, formerly a Lieutenant in the navy of the Confederate States of America. He was a little over six feet tall and just under two hundred pounds. He was dressed in linen tunic and pants, knee high boots and over his tunic he was wearing a padded jerkin. He was armed with a cutlass and a dirk.

"All goes well here?" I asked him glancing about at the construction going on aboard the vessel. I noted quickly that a forecastle of sorts had been built in the bow of the craft and that a mounting stood there for a ballista. I also noted that the vessel's poop deck had been raised and that there was a mounting on either side of the deck, secure to the railing for a smaller launcher than what was to be mounted at the bow. The change in the vessel was interesting.

Dupree smiled at my question and nodded and then showed me about. It didn't take long. During my inspection he brought me up to date on life at Oak Hall. Lord Barnabas was up and about and doing well, although he still tired easily and he was rarely out of sight of one of his two ex-concubines. They took good care of him. As for Elsa Mueller and the other ex-pirates, they had taken over the promontory as I'd suggested and they'd begun their construction of their settlement. There'd been a few incidents between the town of Oak Hall and the ex-pirates, but they had been resolved through the new council that oversaw the town and the port on the behalf of Lord Barnabas. As Dupree told me, his lordship had made a number of administrative changes since I'd departed and since I'd last communicated with him. I took that report as being good news. Then I raised a question to Dupree of him possibly doing me a service.

"I suspect that the pilot for the port had knowledge of my mate's and friend's kidnapping," I told him in a low voice, "and I want to know if it had been acquired before hand or not. If you have men amongst your crew that can obtain this information without upsetting the locals, I would be appreciative."

Dupree said yes and I left it at that. I told him I would see him later and that I needed to see Lord Omar. He bid me good day and I left him. A half hour later I was within the Lord of Izmir's palace waiting for an audience.

"My friend," Lord Omar exclaimed when I was finally escorted into his audience chamber. The man actually rose from his divan and came and greeted me. The chamber was small and decorative and Omar was being attended by several men who were obviously his advisors. One looked to be a military man. He was tall, dark haired, and in his mid forties if my guess was right. He was wearing a shirt of scale armour and he was armed with a curved sword and a matching knife. He grew very attentive when I entered the room. I also noted two other men in the chamber. They both were short and plump and dressed lavishly in long flowing robes that were obviously silk and even more obviously, embroidered with gold thread. More importantly I noticed that there were several guards in attendance as were there servants. It was going to be a very public audience.

"Thank you for granting me an audience my Lord," I responded respectfully to Lord Omar, bowing my head slightly as I spoke. "It is a great honour."

"There is no need for formality here my friend," Lord Omar muttered in reply, brushing off my adherence to protocol. "We are friends and allies and I have been anxiously waiting news about you since we last saw each other. So come and sit with me and share some wine and tell me what has happened since you sailed from my harbour two weeks ago. Did you rescue your mate and your friend?"

I ended up sitting on the divan with Lord Omar. He called forward a servant who poured me wine and then poured some for Omar. I drank the offered wine and smiled warmly when Omar did the same. Then I thanked him for his hospitality. Afterwards I told him my tale, leaving out nothing in the telling. His eyes grew wide as I went on and the eyes of his advisors grew even wider.

"You actually killed King Minos and then took his daughter prisoner?" Omar marvelled as I came to the end of my tale. "Amazing, and then you sank two Minoan biremes with the ballistae launchers that we'd mounted on your ship. That is even more amazing. What an incredible tale. So tell me my friend, what will you do now?"

I told him that I intended to sail next to Oak Hall and deliver the refugees from Minos there. I explained that we had almost four hundred men, women, and children in need of a new home where they wouldn't end up as slaves again. That statement irritated the two fat men but neither alarmed or distracted Omar and his military man. I got the feeling that they were just happy that I wasn't going to drop the refuges off on their doorstep.

"But what will you do about the Princess Samira?" Lord Omar asked pointedly. "I'm certain that the Minoans will want her back. They may even send a fleet after her. I know that they have more warships than the two that you sank. Will Oak Hall be a safe place to leave her? Perhaps you'd like to leave her with me. Izmir is a larger city and we have stronger defences than Oak Hall and the princess would be a welcome guest in my palace."